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Amazing value, but still taste great

Despite being a poor student, one area where I don't tend to save money is meat. Having a poor quality meat often leads to ruining the dish, and in some cases serious illness. Ask anyone who's been to my local McDonalds.However, getting closer to student loans day, I'm so broke I'm having to change all the products I buy to be the Sainsbury's basics range. At first I was reluctant to do so, my parents had always drilled it into me to get the best quality stuff possible. But they never went to University, so here I am.I got these sausages to make a good old bangers n mash, as I absolutely despise the basics ready meal bangers & mash that Sainsbury's offer. I grilled them, and they turned out OK, if still a little mushy, but at this price point I don't care. But they taste pretty damn good, the only sausages I've had which beat them are the Taste the Difference Pork & Apple Sausages. But those cost 4 times as much. I did cook these another time in the oven, and the outside was much crispier and firmer than grilling; just how it should be for sausage sandwiches in the morning.

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Great for the price but not as good as branded sausages

As a student, I can's afford the best quality food. And with a Sainsburys just round the corner, I've been trying a lot of products from the basics range. However, I was a little wary about trying Sainsburys basics meat and only tries these sausages after they were recommended by a friend.

The sausages cost just 65p for 8 sausages- much cheaper than branded sausages. They come in a very plain and simple orange and white Sainsburys basics packet- not the most attractive packaging but it's what's on the inside that counts. It states on the packet that the sausages can be frozen which is a plus.

The sausages cook as quickly and as easily as other sausages. Once cooked, the finished product is a lot better than you'd expect for such a cheap product. The sausages are think and the meat inside is very smooth. Overall, I would say that the sausages taste nice and have a nice texture too. One disadvantage is that they taste a bit plain compared to most more expensive sausages but they're still nice and especially when they're in, for example, a casserole, you can't tell that they're plain.

The sausages have a slightly higher fat content than you're average sausage, at 9g per sausage and 149 calories. So maybe not great for dieters.

Overall, these sausages don't contain as much flavour as a lot of more expensive sausages do. However, for the price they're fantastic, so I'd really recommend them to anyone who is on a tight budget.

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You get a bit better than what you pay for

I am always a bit dubious of economy goods if they contain meat. Even more so when even the premium products in the category, in this case sausages, are renowned for having dodgy off cuts and scrapings from the abattoir lobbed in them. So it was with some trepidation that I tried these economy sausages from Sainsbury.

However I was pleasantly surprised. These are no "butchers choice", they do not have chunks of meat or complex flavours, they have a smooth textured filling, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and under the grill, the skins had a nice crisp element to them. The taste isn't pure porky goodness, you can detect some kind of grain in the mix, but at less than 10p a sausage this is to be expected.

The fat content is high, even for sausages, so these are not for those on a diet - but then sausages should always be a rare treat so this is really a throwaway comment, apart from the implications it has on cooking - you need to keep a close eye on these or they will spit out flames as the fat bursts through the skin.

If I was having to feed a group of mates after a night out on the beers, these would go down an absolute treat. They are cheap and cheerful snack, not the best, but what do you expect?!!

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And excellent basic product and an excellent price.

I'm slowly working my way through all of the Sainsbury's basics rang when I came across this 8 pack of thick pork sausages. I've never been a huge fan of sausages but they always go down being a great meal to my partner and daughter, and they really do compliment a big cooked breakfast.

As I mention previously this packet of sausages come in a pack of 8. They are packaged in a very basic thick plastic packet with the well known orange and white colours. The packaging contains all the information about these sausages. I plastic packet is hard to open so I would recommend using a pair of scissors unless you want to make yourself feel majorly weak by being unable to open them!

They are priced at the extremely low price of only 48p. This is great value for money as you can find yourself spending between £1.50 to £2.00 for the same sized packet but just with a well known brand printed on the front of the packaging.

I purchased a packet on Friday morning and the use by date is the 5th of June giving me only 8 days to use them. But it does state on the packaging that they are freeze able.

The sausages themselves are easy to cook. I cooked them in the oven but you can also grill them. They took around 35 minutes to be thoroughly cooked and topped in a lovely golden brown colour. When I pulled the tray out of the oven I found 8 sausages swimming in a pool of greasy fat! I wasn't too impressed but one drained they were ok.

When you cut into the cooked sausages they were nice and crispy on the outside, with a lovely smooth sausage meat inside. I found that the sausages didn't hold on the all the fat they were previously swimming in and didn't taste majorly greasy. They did taste slightly plain but once topped with some brown sauce and onions my hot dogs were just fantastic. You'd never of known they were the basics range from Sainsbury's.

I think these sausages could do with an extra little bit of flavour added to them but for the extremely low price of only 48p I can't really complain.

I have previously Have these sausages served with a cooked breakfast, hot dogs, sausage and mash and also in a toad in a hole and every time they have been easy to cook and taste just absolutely delicious.

Overall I would recommend these to anyone who is either on a budget or just wanting to save some extra pennies. They are a great tasting meat and will really satisfy your hunger needs.

Well done Sainsbury's another excellent product from the Sainsbury's basics range.

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A nice, cheap sausage!

When it comes to sausages they really are something I can take or leave. Currently staying with a mate who is a Vegetarian I have been enjoying alot of meat free foods however when it come to this week I knew we were having a BBQ and couldn't face the thought of Quorn burgers or some sizzled vegetables, again!

The Packaging:

A clear plastic bag with lots of sections of white colour on it and in orange, black and white writing. On the front of the packet I am told that they are Sainsbury's 'Basics' 8 Pork Sausages 'Simple, filling, still makes a fry up' and that they are 'Filled in a beef protein casing' and that they are British meat, freezable and the best before date is clearly displayed and there is an at a glance nutritional chart on there. Other information on packet includes ingredients and allergy advice being listed, a full nutritional chart is shown, cooking instructions are given, the size is stated (which is 454g) and contact details for Sainsbury's are given. It's a cheap looking packet but serves it's purpose well and is informative as it needs to be.

The Sausages:

Well like the packet says you get 8 of these sausages and they are light pink 'in a skin' rather plump looking sausages really. You can of course grill them which takes a few minutes or bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes or so. I have had these grilled, baked in the oven and also had them on the BBQ and these are actually rather nice!

They contain 42% pork meat (along with other bits and bobs as well of course) and they taste really nice. They cook well, are well seasoned and go firm to the outside and soft on the inside and don't fall apart on you. They are not greasy, I haven't once tasted any gristle and they simply taste porky!

Ok they are not the best quality in the world and you can of course purchase sausages with more of a meat content in them and these are a little mushy on the inside however sling them on a BBQ or in sausage casserole and personally I can't taste much difference and at 48p a packet I think these offer amazing value! Recommended from me!

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48p For 8 Sausages And They're Deffo NOT Disgusting!

I didn't buy these sausages my mate did because she's on a majorly tight budget so has been buying loads of the cheapo supermarket foods, she asked if I wanted to try a butty made with a couple of these Basics sausages because she saw me turn my nose up at them! lol

I thought why not so she made us both one. You can cook these in the oven, grill them or fry them and my mate grilled ours because with them being so cheap we knew there would be more fat in them than Richmond and brands like that.

They smell proper strong while they're cooking and they don't smell like they've been stuffed with herbs to make them taste nicer. They looked nice when they was cooked and was nice and brown all the way round.

I was suprised by how tasty these sausages are! They've got quite a greasy taste to them so I wouldn't want to eat too many but they're actually not THAT bad! I'm used to having Richmond or Sainsburys Taste The Difference sausages so these did taste very cheap to me, but if I was on a budget and wanted sausages then I'd deffo consider buying these.

They've got a meaty taste and you can taste the pork in them, the insides of the sausages was a bit loose I thought because I like sausages to have a firm middle. Neither of the sausages I had had any fatty bits of meat inside and I was happy about that because one thing that puts me off a sausage butty is biting in and getting a tough piece of gristle instead of soft sausage!

This pack of 8 sausages only cost 48p and that's a mega low price. The sausages are proper thick so if you like them you'd only need 2 for a butty or a dinner, and these sausages with a pile of mash and thick gravy would make a filling dinner for less than £1.00 per person!

Recommended... if you can afford better then buy better but give these a try if you're not too picky with your sausage because they taste like they're worth more than you pay for them!!!

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Recommended

Background:

I have to admit I love sausages with almost everything. I have them such a convent food and so adaptable. However they can be expensive and unless they are frozen they have a short shelf life. With this in mind on my latest shopping trip, I noticed these Sainsbury's basic sausages and thought I would give them a try.

Price:

The price is very competitive, for eight sausages in a pack that weighs 454 grams the cost is just 48p. This is a wonderful price as for the same size pack from a branded manufacturer you can pay up to £2.00.

Packaging:

This product I found among the other shelves of sausages. And while not much is spent of packaging with it being part of the Sainsbury's Basic range, it was easy to identify basically because of the low price.

It comes in a see through Polythene pack that is easy to handle and tells you on the front exactly what you are getting. No fancy design, just plain (maybe to plain) cover. I did like the fact I could see the sausages in the pack and I knew exactly what I was getting before I purchased them.

Although on closer examination I did worry a little about the colour of them, as rather than being soft and pink they were quite solid and more of an off grey colour.

One sausage provides:

Calories: 124Fat: 7.6gSat Fat: 3.3gSalt: 0.7gTotal Sugars: 0.7g

Product:

On the front you are told this is British meat that this product is freezable and its shelf life. I have found all sausages regardless of brand only seem to have a shelf life of up to two weeks. What surprised me was most of the other printed information was on the sides rather than the bigger back. As a result the print was smaller than I would have liked (but still clear), as there was a lot of information to share on it.

On the sparsely used back you are advised that the packaging is not yet recyclable yet, the weight of the product and if you have any problems or would like more advice of the product how to contact Sainsbury's.

On one side of the package you are advised of how to store and cook the sausages. I thought the instructions were easy to follow and provided useful information. While on the other side you had all the nutritional information and a list of ingredients.

I found I could not open the packages without the aid of a pair of scissors. All the sausages were linked and easy to separate with my trusted scissors. They were about 30 cm long and quite deep and solid in textile.

I decided to cook the sausages in the oven, which to my surprise was the only way the instructions said you could cook them. I thought all sausages you could fry but this is not the case with these. What surprised me was when they were cooking there was too much mess or fat from the sausages.

The sausages looked appealing and when I cut into them they remained firm. They were crisp and tasted not as meaty as I would have hoped for. There was more of a cereal taste not unpleasant at all just not as memorial as I had hoped for.

Opinion:

Certainly when I had cooked the sausages the smell was not as strong or powerful as the branded ones. They were still a pleasant smell and one that made my taste buds water.

I was surprised how little fat oozed out of the sausages considering there is a high fat content. As a result they were easy to handle without being too greasy. I found the taste to be pleasant, initially they are crispy when you bite into them, but have a good satisfying taste when you chew them.

Certainly not as much of a pork taste as I would like, this is reflected in that only 32% of the ingredients is Pork. I did enjoy it and I found particularly in a buttie the taste was fabulous. When they were on their own I found them tasty but a little bland. What concerned me was the high fat content which I really felt when I was eating them.

Price wise I cannot fault this product it is a great price for a consumer. Easily cheaper than all the branded products. And despite the sausages shrinking when cooked the taste was good. I think I will purchase this product again as it represents good value for money, but if I was served it in a restaurant I would be disappointed.

Conclusion:

I enjoyed my experiment with the Sainsbury's Basic Sausages and they are a product I would recommend. Not only are they great value they taste good and I enjoyed their flavour, my only concern was the lack of pork in the product and the high fat content. I felt after my sausage sandwich I needed to exercise and try and burn these calories off.

Thanks for reading my review.

This review is published exclusively for Dooyoo

@CPTDANIELS December 2009

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Never again

If you have been reading some of my previous reviews you will understand that i am trying out some super market own brand and value brands to see if i can find some products that are just as good as the more expensive brands, un fortunately these sausages arent.

I was going to be having a jacket potatoe for my dinner so i thought some sausages might be nice to accompany it, 48p for a pack of 8 sasauges. It was worth a try!

The packaging is the traditional Sainsburys basics. The orange stripe with orange writting of what the product is.

To cook i grilled them for about 15 minutes, but you can fry them. They cooked well and looked appealing, although quite small.

I knew the meat content wasnt going to be high, and i didnt expect them to be overally nice but i was even more dissapointed then i thought i would be.

The texture was weak and mushy. The sausages once cooked where weak and when i was trying to cut them they were squashing rather than cutting. When i finally got through it and ate it, to my suprise it tasted very much like a yorkshire pudding. It did not taste of meat at all.

I think a good way of telling if a product is good or not is if you would buy it again. The answer here is no! The only way i can think of using these again is if i was to disguise them in like a caserole or something like that. Never again as just a sausage.

Last week i boguth a pack of 8 sainsburys sausages, the next step up from the basic range for 98p. They were much better and actually looked, felt and tasted like a sausage. Not these rubbish.

Cheap but not in anyway cheerful

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A great basics product by Sainsburys, almost as good as the leading brand!

I love to make a Sunday roast or simple sausage and mash and because I am currently unemployed I am on a tight budget so I thought at 48p that I ought to give these a try instead of my usual branded product & I threw them in to my basket on a recent visit to Sainsburys.

The packaging is very basic and cannot be recycled, it is quite a stiff plastic wrapping and I needed to use scissors to cut through it as both ends were very well sealed. Once opened I was met with 8 sausages which are a light pink colour, almost a little grey, and these are all pretty similar in size.

I actually used my sausages without the skins on them and mixed with sage & onion stuffing as an accompaniment to my roast dinner. I cut off the top and then I pulled out the sausage meat and mixed it with the stuffing that I had already prepared. I then flattened it out and put it in the oven at around 190 degrees for 35 minutes to ensure that everything was cooked correctly and this was delicious and crunchy. I could taste no difference between these sausages and a more expensive branded product and the sausage meat stuffing was a fantastic accompaniment to my roast dinner (chicken - yum!).

Each cooked sausage contains around 145 calories and 9g of fat so these should be enjoyed in moderation as part of a healthy diet. I used eight of these to make the stuffing and that served four people with some leftover and I don't think this was too bad really.

I am rating these 4/5 as the price is fantastic, the sausages taste nice if mixed with something or as part of a toad in the hole etc and my only main complaint is that the packaging is not recyclable but then for 48p I don't expect a miracle!

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Almost as heavenly as chocolate!

SAINSBURY'S "BASICS" THICK SAUSAGES

COST: 48p for 8 sausages

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (per sausage, presumably uncooked):

Calories: 125Kj: 520Protein: 4.8gCarbohydrate: 9.2g- of which sugars: 0.3g- of which starch: 8.9gFat: 7.6g- of which saturates: 3.3g- of which mono unsaturates: 3.6g- of which polyunsaturates: 0.7gFibre: 0.5gSalt: 0.60gSodium: 0.50g

Sainsbury's "Basics" Thick Sausages are wrapped in a stiff polythene pack, the front of which bears the standard Sainsbury's "Basics" logo. There is a pie-chart giving very basic information at the top of the pack, a description which says "8 Sausages....Made with British pork, bang on", a little union jack flag, and a sign indicating the product is freezable. The back of the pack gives more detailed nutritional information, ingredients, cooking instructions, allergy advice, manufacturer's contact details, and an apology that the packaging is not recyclable.

The appearance of these sausages is tired, depressing and decidedly uninspiring. At first glance, the only thing inspiring about them is the price. They are coloured a dull, grey-ish pink (more grey than pink), are quite thick, and uniform in size.

Before I put a pack of these in my trolley when last in Sainsbury's, I examined the visible part of the sausages through the transparent parts of the packaging, and satisfied myself that at least on the surface, they appeared not to contain any gobbets of gristle which I refer to as "jelly bags". That's not to say the sausages inside aren't riddled with "jelly bags" though.

The proof of anything, not just puddings, is obviously in the actual eating.

I decided to be decidedly unhealthy, and have a meal of fried sausages, baked beans and fried egg with lots of bread and Flora. I usually grill my sausages, but on this occasion I thought to hell with cholesterol - let's have some fun!

The pack of Sainsbury's Basics Thick Sausages has to be opened with scissors, as it is sealed at both ends. I took out 4 sausages, and put the rest into a freezer bag (then in the freezer) to save for another time, and decided that if they were completely inedible, next door's cat would be the smug recipient of yet another treat. The sausages sort of fell out and plopped onto my wooden chopping board, and the appearance wasn't enhanced by removing the packaging. They were of uniform size, and I gave closer scrutiny than I had been able to do in the shop, my radar well and truly up regarding any of those evil "jelly bags" which lurk - if I find even the merest hint of a "jelly bag" in a sausage, I just can't eat any more and I never buy that brand again.

Usually I find, on the rare occasions that I fry sausages, they ooze enough fat to cook themselves in, so I didn't put any oil into the frying pan. I assumed that these sausages would be riddled with the stuff (fat!), because of them being a budget range brand - but - imagine my surprise when once the pan had heated up most sausages by then start to leak fat, these didn't. I left them a little longer, in case they were slow movers in the fat department, but still no seepage - so, I had to add a tiny bit of oil.

Whilst the sausages were cooking, they didn't smell too appetising - somewhat reminiscent of a greasy spoon type cafe which fries things in the same glob of oil as they did on their opening day in 1956! I thus wondered if I had made a mistake in buying these budget sausages, but nothing ventured nothing gained. They looked bad and smelled dubious - the skins of the sausages took a long time to brown, too.

Everything cooked as close to perfection as I can manage, I doled the whole meal onto a plate, sat myself down, and performed the taste test.

My knife prickled through the brown, somewhat crispy part of the cooked skin, and pierced the flesh inside, sliding through nicely. I dubiously lifted my fork to my mouth, shut my eyes, prayed for England, and chewed - praying that there would be no hidden "jelly bags".

Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm - I continued to chew - wow, no jelly bags at all! A lovely taste-burst of lightly "herbed" sausage flavour caressed my taste buds and slid down my throat with a tasty zing. I wanted to repeat the experience, and before I knew it, I'd scoffed the whole lot. They were bloody delicious, despite looking and smelling quite unpleasant.

These sausages aren't meaty at all, which is good for me as I like a sausage to have a high cereal content, and that's probably why there was no fat seepage during the early stages of cooking - but on the other hand, the nutritional information on the pack states that each sausage contains a stonking 7.6g of fat, so where the hell was it? The only thing I can assume is that it was absorbed by the cereal in the sausage, so maybe ultimately that's a less healthy way of eating them, as a large amount of fat from meatier sausages will seep out during the cooking process.

All the same though, these sausages are delicious and taste like a top of the range brand. They didn't shrink at all during cooking, had a beautiful slight herby/spicy flavour, and not a jelly bag in sight.

10 out of 10 to Sainsbury's for yet another excellent "basics" product, and I certainly shall be buying these again, despite the non-apparent high fat content. I can't wait to eat the next lot, and I strongly recommend these sausages to anybody who prefers a higher cereal to meat ratio. Eight big fat ones for 48p!!!